The Bald Eagles are waiting…for easy pickin’s…
Bald Eagle on Yaquina Head
Waiting for nesting Murres to lay their eggs
Balance between Murres and Eagles being reset
Click on photo to enlarge
Photographer Terry Smith was out on Yaquina Head Saturday, taking photos of bird activity on the rocks just seaward of the lighthouse. He reports that the Common Murres are preparing their nests to hatch their young. But as some wildlife experts have observed, with Bald Eagles and Brown Pelicans making a comeback by being listed as threatened, their populations have been swelling which increases Mother Nature’s competition for food. And Murre eggs are on the menu, apparently. Even later in the season, when adult Murres go fishing for their young, the pelicans and eagles intercept the process by shaking the food out of the bellies of the adults and young Murres. Murre populations have been under this kind of pressure for a few years, and their numbers are down. We’re told the central Oregon coast produces a very substantial portion of all Murres on the west coast.
